Admissions Arrangements 2026 – Consultation:

In accordance with the Department for Education’s School Admissions Code – with particular reference to sections 1.42 and 1.43 – Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) seeks to re-determine its admissions arrangements for September 2026 entry, as per the requirement that “admissions authorities must consult on their admission arrangements at least once every 7 years, even if there have been no changes during that period.”

Proposed changes - Published Admission Number for Year 10 entry:

Birmingham Ormiston Academy is a wholly selective 14 to 19 academy that specialises in the creative, digital and performing arts.  Entry into the academy is based on an aptitude assessment for one of the arts pathway courses on offer at Key Stage 4 or Key Stage 5. 

Each year, we receive just over 450 applications for the 150 places available in Year 10.  For the past 3 years – in agreement with the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and Section 32 of the Academy’s admissions arrangements – we have planned for and exceeded the number of places available in Year 10.

Having successfully managed this increase by ensuring the “provision of efficient education” and the “efficient use of resources”, the Academy wishes to formally increase its published admission number (PAN) from 950 students to 1000 students, to recognise the increase from 150 available places to 175 available places in years 10 and 11 (350 students in total at Key Stage 4).

The Academy wishes to formally increase its published admission number in Year 10, for the following reasons:

1. To meet the demand for places, as the Academy regularly receives more applications than the number of places on offer to students for Year 10 entry;
2. BOA is a regional academy, taking in students from across the West Midlands region (as outlined in Section 34 of the academy’s admissions arrangements), and students in current Year 10 (September 2024 entry) have transferred to BOA from 124 secondary school across the region.
3. The Academy can accommodate this increase while ensuring the provision of efficient education for all students on roll.
4. Section 1.3 of the School Admissions Code states that "own admission authorities are not required to consult on their PAN where they propose either to increase or keep the same PAN."  As part of the process for re-determining the Academy's admissions arrangements, we would still welcome any questions regarding the increase of provision at Key Stage 4.

A draft copy of the Admissions Policy 2026 can be found in the Attachments section at the bottom of this web page, with any proposed changes highlighted in RED TEXT.

Monday 25th November 2024 to Monday 6th January 2025 (Consultation Period):

On Monday 25th November, the Academy will post a link to the BCC School Admissions website, where our proposed admissions arrangements will be published, as well as a link to Birmingham BeHeard website, which is where interested parties can comment on the proposed admissions arrangements during the consultation period:

Please follow this link to view the proposed admissions arrangements, which have been published on the Birmingham City Council (BCC) School Admissions website:

 https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/OAA_Proposed_admissions_arrangements_2026

If you wish to comment on the admissions arrangements for Birmingham Ormiston Academy (aka BOA or BOA Creative, Digital & Performing Arts), please follow this link:

https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/bcc/oaa-proposed-aa-2026-2027/